Designer. Gamer. Storyteller.

Game Mechanics

Board

The game uses two 6-sided dice, but can use one.
The Character Cards give the Players abilities.
The Terra Cards help choose the planet of the adventure.
The Crystal Runes represent each character.
The Shield represents the order in which each Player will fight in the Battling System.
The Brown gem tokens represent the number of Health Points each character and villain character possesses.
Black Encounter Disks represent the possibility of encountering enemies in the dungeon.

Player Character Selection:

The game begins with a single dice roll. Highest roll gets to choose their character first. They will then select a face down Terra Card and roll the dice again. The number and the planet on the Terra Card will correspond to the adventure in the Story Booklet that the team will embark on. Then in order of highest roll to lowest, everyone else gets to choose their character. If a team is experienced, they may skip this part and select the character they are best at.

Interaction System:

The person who is a resident of the planet and thus a local is Team Leader.

(On Maru? Jez of Maru is Team Leader.)

When navigating the local area, the team will be prompted to choose between two options per interaction. Either the leader will be individually asked, or the team will have to decide. When they decide, they skip ahead in the Story Booklet to their choice and continue the interaction until their next choice.

Some choices lead to conflict which will activate the Battling System (see below).

Battling System:

Reconnaissance

If the Battling System is activated in reconnaissance, it will hinge on a success or failure system, and players are welcome to retry the encounter at their own risk.

Dungeon

First, all Players must roll for initiative. Highest roll gets initiative, and the players must put their corresponding runes on the battle shield, which maintains the order in which the group will fight for the entire encounter. You must roll for each initiative.

The Villain will always strike first with or without minions. The team will take damage, then go as a whole. Weak attacks of through automatically, all other attacks require a +3 roll to go through.

A successful roll adds the roll to the attack of the Character and deals damage to the minion of the Player’s choice. The Boss cannot be directly attacked by anyone by Sabwa of Holt who possesses the ability Iron Skin. When all minions are defeated, all Players may attack the Boss.

If fighting a boss, the Players must take down the minions by the fourth turn or the Boss goes into a secondary power state. The Boss also goes into secondary state if health drops below ½.

Balancing the Stats

Initial Abilities and Stats:

1st Iteration

Basic Blocking Out of the Differences in Strength and Durability

STAT BALANCING CHART

1st Iteration

2nd Iteration

Current Iteration (4th)

Sabwa:

HP 50

Attack: 15+

Sabwa:

HP 50

Attack: 15+

Skills: Impenetrable & Absorb, 2nd Negotiate

Sabwa: HP 40

Light Armor: +10

W: Long-Sword Close Range

Weak Attack: 4

Skill Attack: +12

Rune: Justice, Leader, Authority

Jez:

HP 20

Attack: 18+

Jez:

HP 20

Attack: 18+

Skills: Spellbind & Seduce, 2nd Flirt

Jez: HP 30

Arcane Armor: +15

W: Fire Whip Long Range

Weak Attack: 4

Skill Attack: +5

Rune: Sexuality (Wild Ox)

Sapphire:

HP 40

Attack: 20+

Sapphire:

HP 40

Attack: 20+

Skills: Rage & Scathe, 2nd Intimidate

Sapphire

HP 40

Reinforced Fur: +10HP

W: Double Scythe Close Range

Weak Attack: 5

Skill Attack: +15

Rune: Disaster & Loss, Hailstone

Mam:

HP 80

Attack: 10+

Mam:

HP 80

Attack: 10+

Skills: Poision& Empower, 2nd Chase

Mam:

HP 30

Enchanted Shawl: +20HP

W: Staff Mid Range

Weak Attack: 3

Skill Attack: +7

Rune: Protection, Defense

Welf:

HP 60

Attack: 8+

Welf:

HP 60

Attack: 8+

Skills: Drain & Scapegoat, 2nd Sneak

Welf:

HP 30

Steel Breastplate

W: Throwing Daggers

Weak Attack: 3

Skill Attack: +9

Rune: Need

2nd Iteration:

Problems: Jez keeps dying too easily. The strategy has not yet been implemented in tactics unique to each character. The reconnaissance stage is not interactive aside from two choice decisions.

Solutions:

Created a skill set for each character and a secondary skill that would help the Reconnaissance stage feel less passive and more an active investment in the mission. Secondary skills are used to get information. Characters specialize in specific abilities and those abilities if used are automatic, but a one-shot only. All other characters have to roll +3 to do that specific skill. I let the stats be, but created abilities that would help the team shield the weaker players and stronger characters do more damage, dividing them into melee and arcane classes

3rd iteration:

Problems: No way to refill health in dungeons unless you’re Welf who has Drain.

– No ability to attack multiple enemies. Jezebel keeps dying.

– Welf has no cap on her drain.

– Mam’s health never dips 65 HP.

– Actions are overly dependent on +3 rolls.

– Nothing happens after death.

Solutions:

Divided HP between standard Health Points and a New Armor class. The Armor is the first to take damage, but can be replaced with armor picked up in dungeons or fixed in local towns. Welf can now give the health she drains to other team members.

Jezebel’s skillset is updated and makes her primary Fever, which attacks multiple targets.

Welf’s drain cap is no longer necessary now that she can share, the Players are more likely to heal than horde the HP.

Mam’s health is dropped to 30HP, but her Armor is 20, giving her the highest durability, but a manageable amount. Redesigned Mam’s skillset to include Empower which sacrifices 5 HP to give an ally +10 attack or defense (on armor) permanently. This is helpful strategically, but also encourages Mam to lower her HP.

Weak Attack implemented which is an automatic attack, and all rolls are strong attacks, however the villain card interacts encourage strong attacks. This was players are still required to roll for the best outcomes.

After death, two states introduced: Dead Man’s grip (After 3 turns come alive with double your base attack to take one last swing at the enemy, rendered inactive at the end), and Resurrection, after 5 turns (return to the field with ½ revived HP). The decision of which state to enact is up to the deceased Player and cannot be discussed

4th iteration:

Each character is assigned a Rune which is a personal identifier to their personality and way of thinking. Runes are made playing pieces and mark using a shield the position of engagement, which resets each encounter. Each character also receives a personal quote, so Players get a snap shot of who they are.

Characters colors translate into a banner that is the same as their home world.

Secondary skills are translated into “Non-Battle Skills,” and instead of all characters having to roll +3 for a skill that is not their specialty, they now have varying degrees or ease and difficulty depending on their personality and strong suite with of the skills. Also, no skills are automatic, now the better you are at the skill, the lower your roll requirement. +1 is the lowest roll requirement. (Each character has +1 req for their “specialty”, then a +2,+3, or +4 stat for the other skills. Teams must now decide who should roll for what based on their character’s strengths.

EXTRA: Specified the weapon each character carries and the range in which they can act in confrontations that occur during the Reconnaissance stage.

– Example: Welf has Long-range Throwing Daggers, which means she is more useful to attack a fleeing opponent than Sabwa who can only yield her Long Sword Close Range, (though she’s got great reach).

Current iterations:

Stats remain the same for now (Maru is the easiest planet, Raa is the hardest, so after Raa missions I’ll have a good indication of the weaknesses and strengths of the current balancing system.

Current Abilities and Stats:

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Sabwa: HP 40

Light Armor: +10

W: Long-Sword Close Range

Weak Attack: 4

Skill Attack: +12

—

Jez: HP 30

Arcane Armor: +15

W: Fire Whip Long Range

Weak Attack: 4

Skill Attack: +5

—

Sapphire

HP 40

Reinforced Fur: +10HP

W: Double Scythe Close Range

Weak Attack: 5

Skill Attack: +15

—

Mam:

HP 30

Enchanted Shawl: +20HP

W: Staff Mid Range

Weak Attack: 3

Skill Attack: +7

—

Welf:

HP 30

Steel Breastplate

W: Throwing Daggers

Weak Attack: 3

Skill Attack: +9

All Iterations

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Rules/How to Play:

STEP ONE: SETUP

Shuffle the Terra Cards and place them face down, and spread out the Character Cards face up.

Begin your quest by rolling to determine who chooses their Character Card first, second, and so on. The player with the highest roll chooses their character first, then second highest goes next, then third, until all players have a Character card.

Once this is done, the Player who chose the first Character card must choose a face down Terra card. That will be the location of the adventure. Discard the rest of the Terra Cards.

TERRA CARDS NOTE: Terra Cards effect the player’s environment. You can only fight in one environment at a time, and each environment will have its own set of struggles, boss, and storyline.

Once the Terra card has been selected, select the Terra Mat that goes with your world. (Ex: If you selected Maru, use the Maru Terra Mat), then, open the Story Booklet to the corresponding adventure, and have either an additional player or an active player read the journey.

STEP TWO: Gameplay

Standard:

Each character has a specific set of skills that are activated through dice rolls. The game is divided into three parts: Reconnaissance, Dungeon, and the Boss Battle.

The Reconnaissance stage details the events leading up to your team’s arrival on the planet, what your mission is, and forces you to make choices that will lead you to where the Boss is located. While some fighting may ensue, more likely skills like Negotiate, Sneak, Insight, Intimidate, and Chase will be used. Players will be promoted to roll to determine the success of their actions. Each character has a different requirement for a successful roll.

The Dungeon stage takes place in the lair or hideout of the Main Villain. In this stage players will work together to battle lesser enemies through the dungeon while trying to find the boss.

The Boss stage: takes place once the party has found the boss. Now the group must work together to defeat the all the boss’ minions and the boss themselves in order to win the game.

Accelerated: In accelerated mode, the players can skip the prologue and go straight for the confrontation with the dungeon and confrontation with the final boss.

STEP THREE: How to Fight:

Acronyms:

HP: Health Points

How much health you have or additional health your armor gives you

Roll req: Roll requirements

For a successful attack you must roll over the roll requirements. Ex: +3 equals must roll over a three.

Weak Attack: An attack that needs no roll.

Atk: Attack Points

W: Weapon

Useful for throwing and close range situations

Each player card will have an amount of health points, attack points, and a circle indicating which planet they are from. Their planet of origin will always be where they are strongest. In order to attack, the players will have to roll their dice and add the score to their attack points.

Non-battle SKILLS: Skills that can only be used in the prologue.

MAIN SKILLS:

WEAK ATTACK: Requires no roll, is an auto attack.

TO SKILL ATTACK: Players must roll a minimum 3, in order to have a successful hit on the enemy targets, and then roll again to determine the attack power. Attack power is calculated with a card attack plus the roll. If the roll is unsuccessful, the player must wait a full turn for their next opportunity, IF they survive the enemy’s attack.

TO CHARM:

To cast a charm, the player must roll a minimum 3. If successful, the charm goes through, but the player must specify how they will use it.

ON COMA:

If a player’s health drops below zero, they fall into a coma where they can do one of two moves. They cannot discuss their decision with their teammate.

Dead Man’s Grip: After 3 turns. allows the character to use the the last of their strength to deal a blow to the enemy that is double their attack points, and then become inactive for the rest of the game.

Resurrection: After 6 turns. She’s alive! Return from the dead with half your health points and all your attack points.

TO WIN:

The players must find the boss, defeat their minions, and defeat their boss. The game end when either the boss is dead, or all players are rendered in a coma or inactive.